The chairman of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs favored the temporary suspension of deployment of first-time and newly-hired domestic workers to Kuwait, which the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced Wednesday, Feb. 8.
"I support the move of the DMW to suspend the deployment of our first-time and newly-hired workers to Kuwait until appropriate measures are in place to ensure their safety and welfare," Kabayan Party-list Rep. Ron Salo said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Indeed, we need to ensure that those who will be deployed in Kuwait to join the current 195,000 domestic helpers already working there have the requisite experience and knowledge on the culture and laws of Kuwait,” added the committee chairman.
"We thank the DMW for doing its best in finding opportunities in other markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and other alternative markets where OFWs’ (overseas Filipino worker) rights are respected and their safety is assured," Salo concluded.
The deployment suspension came at the heels of the brutal killing of Jullebee Ranara, a Filipino domestic helper from Kuwait.
Another pro-OFW House member, OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino, echoed Salo's sentiments on the DMW's move.
"I’m so much in favor of this new development and looking forward to have our bilateral agreements with the host countries revisited and add more salient sanctions and penalties that would be respected and be enforceable in these countries to better protect the rights and welfare of our OFWs," Magsino said in a separate statement.